Angels for Recall
by mssunnymuffins
Summary: Ludwig is an Angel of Strength, Feliciano is an Angel of Joy, and Kiku Honda's emblem, the symbol binding him to his role as an angel, has disappeared. He is sent to Arthur Kirkland, an Angel of Magic, to fix the problem. What will he do when a worse one arises? Angel AU, Minimal ships, 2P Nations - RELOCATED TO ANGELS VS DEMONS! CHECK MY PROFILE!
1. First Assignment

This story scares me because I came up with the idea in two days (I usually let my ideas baste for a while) and still don't ENTIRELY know where I'm going with this. Just so you guys know, this story is likely to revolve around Japan. He's really not in this chapter, which is why I wanted to mention it.

 **Warning:** Angels, Demons, Heaven, Hell, and God are all possible to be mentioned at some point in this story. I'll keep it basic and mostly non-religious but if these ideas super bother you, read another story or forever hold your flames from my reviews section.

Here're the human names I used, let me know if any of them are wrong (if there's a cannon or fannon name I should've used instead).

Sealand: Peter  
Wy: Jane  
Liechtenstein: Lillie  
Finland: Tino  
Sweden: Berwald  
Romania: Vladimir  
Norway: Lukas  
Ancient Rome: Aldarik  
Germania: Everet  
China: Yao Wang  
The Italies: Vargas brothers  
Prussia: Gilbert

* * *

"Are you guys excited!" a young boy asked while jumping in the air smiling at his friends. He wore all white, as most angelic figures did, aside from a blue strip on his cap and matching blue bandanna tied around in neck. Blonde hair was tucked mostly into a large hat, aside from bangs kept out to help in covering his prominent eyebrows. The boy's smile seemed to never fade.

"Honestly I'm kind of nervous. I wish mein bruder were here." The girl who had responded did so quietly, and politely, while adjusting a purple ribbon she kept in her hair.

"Oh come on," the boy cried back, "I wish Berwald and Tino where here but you don't see me complaining. We'll do fine!"

"Yea, you lap onto ever word your brother says so dearly, I just don't see how you could forget something," the other of the two girls responded. She flipped her curly, brown ponytail out of her face and felt it bob on and off the side of her head as they walked.

"I wonder what kind of angels we'll become!"

"Peter, we only become angels if we pass," the brunet snapped.

"Do you think we won't pass?" the girl with a ribbon in a lock of her hair asked, furrowing her eyebrows in concern.

"Well I know _I'll_ pass, it's you two I'm worried about," the girl responded, tossing her nose in the air. After all, her brother's brother was one of the instructors. They hadn't talked much but surely he'd know his own family and recognize a powerful angel when he saw one.

"Lillie," the boy commented, grabbing her on the shoulder, he also grabbed the other,"Jane, we'll do great! We will pass and become real angels! No doubt about it!"

"I hope so," the most timid of the bunch commented, tugging on her skirt, "we're here." Peter excitedly bounded the four steps leading up to a set of wooden double doors before forcing them open with a fair bit of his strength. The trio was greeted by a grand hall complete with books lining every inch of the five story high walls, tables slew about with bottles, jars, potions, open books, and sprawled in journals. In the doorway stood a chipper man in a white overcoat with a red belt and collar. He had a small, white hat from his head with red, purple, and pink ribbons attached to it. The man smiled, and his oddly pointy canine teeth stood out as he leaned forward, dusty brown hair falling into his eyes. On his chest, a small emblem resembling a wand had a slight sparkle to it.

"Hello, children! My name is Vladimir, and welcome to The Hall of Magic! Come in, come in!" He stepped to the side and allowed the children entry. They walked in and stood beside several other kids and whispered to each other. The noise in the room grew as more and more kids came in until about 15 pre-angles were collected in the hall. Peter paused mid sentence when he noticed the room quieting down and turned to the attention of three angels, all of which embodying Vladimir's same emblem, standing side by side in the center of the room. Vlad stepped ahead of the other two and cleared his throat.

"I hope everyone is excited to be here. I would like to again welcome you to the Hall of Magic. Potions allowing angels to descend to the earth, defense from demons, aids in missions, assignment, recall, and much more is handled here by myself and the other angels of magic." One of the two left in the back took a few steps forward. The man was fairly plain in a white top and white pants, but a yellow pin in the shape of a cross held back the hair on the right side of his head, and he had piercing, violet eyes with little expression behind them.

"You, have all come for assignment," he stated, earning some murmurs from the crowd, "today, our job will be to make sure, first, that you are equipped properly to be angels and then, give you a role. Your role is determined by your characteristics, not us. An angel who had always been obsessed with romance, grows to become an Angel of Love. An angel who has always been headstrong grows to become an Angel of Determination. As you know, it is all natural selection. Any questions?" The man waited, but no questions came. They never did. Child angels always knew exactly what to expect for assignment tests and were bursting with nervousness, excitement, or some mixture of the two. He mentally smiled at the group as he remembered stressing over study, and meticulously measuring his wingspan and counting each individual feather on his white, dove-like wings hundreds of times over in the months before his test. He could still feel the warmth in his chest and the tingle of his cheeks and he did a rare feat for himself, and smiled, upon getting his top choice of Angel of Magic. For the first few weeks he glanced back at his wand emblem at least twice a minute in pride. He studied the children's giddy and nerve-ridden faces hoping the same positive fate awaited them that day.

"Good," a blonde man with hazel eyes named Arthur commented, "then let's get started. Wingspan!" All of the child angels in the room forced their wings out of their backs and through the holes in the tops of their shirts and dresses near their shoulder blades. They expanded their wings outwards and waited as the three angles of magic came around with measuring tape. Arthur struggled not to laugh as one lanky boy held his breath the moment the device touched his feathers and forgot to breathe until long after he had walked away. One girl, with the purest white wings anyone had ever seen, came up just a few centimeters short, and was sent home anyways doomed to try again next year or whenever her wings finished growing in. The young angels' hearts went out to her, but also felt blessed beyond belief to not be in her position. Lillie was nervous, but her wings were slightly longer than her height, so passing was no issue. Jane also had good luck and Peter did not even need to be measured. He'd had a wing-spurt so early his wings were the longest in the room and he passed with flying colors.

Next, came the flight test. Each angel-child climbed to the top of a podium, jumped off, free fell until they passed a red rope, and then had to fly across the room before they hit the ground. Jane had to re-do hers for having started flying a tad bit to early. Peter glided across the room with ease, and Lillie performed well, remembering the exact angle her brother told her to hold her wings at to help with a smooth landing. One boy, however, flew himself right into a mound of books and was sent home early, partially for having irritated Arthur, not that that's hard to do. The third and final test, aside from the basic function tests, the one that ended up choking up Peter, was the archery test. Each angle was given a color and targets of every color where enchanted by the Angels of Magic to float about the room. Once you shot three of your targets out of the air, you were done. Peter was last to finish, just barely making the time deadline. In the end only nine of the original 15 passed, others sent home angrily or in tears.

The basic functions test ended up booting one more boy from the successful group as he failed the vision test and was instructed to apply for glasses. Lillie herself failed initially the logic test, but realized just before leaving in shame that her bubbling was a number off, redid it all in the two minutes she had left, and got perfect marks.

"Congratulations," one of the angels who called himself Lukas commented, "you have all passed! Now, you receive your assignments." The three angles of magic smiled at the children who were all on the edge of their hypothetical seats and started to work their way down the line. One girl actually had the power to make Lukas of all people actually laugh. Upon receiving her assignment as an Angel of Love, she let out a high pitched squeal, grabbed him by the collar, and started jump-flying the two in circles.

Finally, the three instructors made it to Jane, Lillie, and Peter, beginning rituals on them all at once. They poured pink, red, and white liquids into bowls, stirring as they went, before reciting a chant over the bowl causing it to flash light. They gave each other small smiles commenting on 'the last three of the day' before standing in front of each one, a bowl of potion in hand.

Peter smiled excitedly up at his elder brother, Arthur. The two had not seen one another in so long and he was truly so excited to have not only passed the test, but have passed it under Arthur's instruction, under Arthur's judgement. Sometimes, Peter couldn't help but feel as if Arthur didn't believe in him, but he shook away those thoughts as the elder angel dipped his hand into the liquid. When he pulled it out, his hand was glowing, and he waved it eloquently in the air, casting Peter in a cloak of sparkles. The magical dust all flashed away and the boy craned his neck to steal a glance at his own breast-pocket. An emblem appeared there, a music note. It flashed and became a heart. Then, a firecracker, the number nine, it continued flashing and flashing on and on until it finally stopped. The symbol Peter was given was a small, delicate flower, that had seemed to have just bloomed.

"What is it?" he asked, not recognizing the picture as anything he'd seen before on the elder angles he knew. Tino was an Angel of Joy, symbolized by a sun. Berwald bore a baby bassinet on his breast, brandishing him an Angel of Familial Love. Other than those two, Angle of Magic, and Angle of Angles, Peter didn't recognize much.

"How befitting," Arthur said with a thoughtful look and genuine smile. He ruffled his little brother's hair before breaking the news. "Peter, you are an angel of Hope." Hope? Had he said hope? An Angel of Hope? Peter felt a swelling in his heart as his shocked, agape mouth broke into a grin. He would be one of the angels who would go into the world and give people hope in their time of need. He would be the one to lift people up, to make them feel like they can be something, like they can do something. To give them a reason to keep trying. Hope. The boy nearly squealed in excitement before turning to eye his friends, who smiled at him encouragingly, until both were shocked by the glitter surrounding their bodies. When the light faded, the two glanced at their emblems. Lillie had been given a silhouette of a head, with the brain visible in the cranium. Jane, on the other hand, had a man flexing both of his huge arms. Vlad, who had been standing in front of Jane holding a magic-filled bowl chuckled.

"Angel of Confidence."

"Oh yea," Peter commented rolling his eyes, "she has plenty to go around." Jane couldn't be bothered to pout, or reprimand him. She simply placed a hand over her chest and struggled to push back a grin.

"Wh-What about me?" Lillie begged, a bit distracted by her emblem to be excited for her friends.

"What about you? Well, I'm happy I got to be the one to assign you," Lukas commented. Despite his so called happiness, his expression didn't much change. "I think you'll be back for recall someday, Ms. Angel of Knowledge." The other kids in the room all gasped, oohed, and ahhed, including Peter who ran up to hug her, lifting the frail girl off the ground as he did so.

"M-me? Angel of...are you sure?"

"Certain." Lillie didn't look certain. "Now then, can someone tell me why this is important?" Lukas asked. He pointed to one of the girls still in the room who had been dubbed an Angel of Dedication.

" , it's important because Angels of Knowledge are very likely to be recalled for a new assignment and become The Angel of Wisdom."

"And what does the Angles of Wisdom do?" Arthur probed, pointing to a little boy who had noticeably accurate archery skills.

"The Angel of Wisdom works with the Angels of Angels to lead and guide all of us in the Angel Committee."

"Who are the current Angels of Angels?" Lukas threw back in. Lillie was first to raise her hand and responded a bit shyly, but still properly.

"Uhm, Evert, father of many angels including mein bruder, and Gilbert, and Adalric who is grandfather to the Vargas brothers. But, the person most likely to become Angel of Wisdom right now is a Mr. Yao Wang, because of his age, not the other Angels of Knowledge, and certainly not me. You Angels of Magic even have more of a chance than I do..." she eyed her shoes and she shifted from foot to foot. It was more rare for Angels of Knowledge, Magic, Wisdom, or Angels to go to the Earth. Angels of Angels really only went when a passed away human's soul was meant to be turned into an angel, and they usually had an Angel of Magic or two to accompany them. Magic angels also did go to earth to give people wonder, make them believe in magic, or perform a magical act that someone just really needed to see. Angels of Knowledge were mostly used for helping the Angels prosper through research, but they did go to the earth from time to time to give someone an ingenious thought or help on an important exam. Their role was one of great respect and importance. It was a high, high honor to become one of these four types of angels, and Lillie was having a hard time believing little ol' her had become one. She was near certain her emblem would dissapear over the next couple of days, she would come for recall, and she would get a new job like a simple Angel of Joy.

"You should feel proud Lillie," Peter commented batting her back, "you know your brother would love this. You will too!"

"Oh, come on, give me some arrows," Jane commented, gesturing to her emblem of confidence, "I can fix her."

"Speaking of arrows," Vlad interjected, jumping into action, "We are due to issue you all some! Now, remember the chant."

"Arrows are powerful, not for play. Only use them in a good way," a choir of children called out from memory. From the day they were born and first tried to touch he arrows of their siblings or parents they heard that chant over and over and over again.

"Good, glad you get it," Arthur opened up a chest and reached inside, pulling out the first bag and turning to the children, "let's get you equipped!"

* * *

So, as you can see, Japan didn't come up. I'm pretty sure the next chapter will continue to follow around the kids and it won't include him there either. But like for sure, he'll come up and this story will have a plot soon. For right now, I just want to ease you guys into the setting. It's a world of angels - there's a lot to explain. Go ahead and expect me from here on to forget to capitalize something or write angle instead of angel. It's GOING to happen. Or maybe it already did *laughs*.

 **Let me know in the reviews if you guys like this idea/story and if you have any hints for me.** I know where I want it to go but I'm so open to other ideas. Thanks for the read, and if you're coming from Mirror, Mirror, I'm so sorry. Don't hate me.


	2. First Mission

My dee my it's been a hot second since I've updated hasn't it? School and work have just been kicking me in mein lady-balls. Author-chan is sorry. But honestly, expect more delays with the way this year is already going -_-

At some point in this I started writing in first person. I tried to go back and fix it but if I missed anything, just know it's from Jane's perspective and I'm sorry. So here s the human names I used

Sealand - Peter  
Liechtenstein - Lillie or Liz  
Wy - Jane  
Australia - Jett  
America - Alfred  
Russia - Ivan  
Finland - Tino  
Sweden - Berwald  
Switzerland - Vash  
Germany - Ludwig  
Hungary - Elizabeth  
Estonia - Eduard

* * *

The cluster of newly assigned angels burst through the doors to The Hall of Magic in excited delight. Each one wore an un-maskable smile on their face, a blue sash over their torsos to hide their emblems, and carried a bag containing their bow and temporary arrows inside. Peter watched with delight as one of the boys he'd been impressed with during testing skipped up to his parents ginning ear to ear; the boy shared some quick words with them before jumping in the air and tossing his sash to the side, giving his family the big reveal. His mother and father began to flip through a pocket-sized emblem guide until they landed on one they liked. They studied the book, studied the patch on their son's breast pocket, and finally the mother squealed and sucked the boy up into a possibly bone-crushing embrace. Upon spotting Tino and Berwald, Peter's smile widened more if such a thing were possible and he hoped to receive a similar reaction.

"Peter!"

"Did you pass?" it was Berwald who spoke. An unfamiliar angel who was standing next to Peter side stepped and nearly fell into the other direction mumbling something about feeling sorry for him and his dad being so mean. The blonde only giggled and nodded, having long since grown used to Berwald's hard glare and deep voice.

"Oh that's amazing! What'd you get? Show us!" Tino gleefully demanded, clapping his hands together. His wings puffed up in anticipation as the new-angel in question paused for dramatic effect. What felt like decades later, his grin reached its peak in size and he flipped back his sash with full confidence. Tino, having immediately recognized such an iconic symbol, gasped and held a hand over his mouth. "Oh, Peter!"

"Angel of Hope," Berwald confirmed before nodding. His face did something that Peter had come to recognize was the man's best attempt at a smile. "Congratulations."

"So," said Jane, who had walked up with her elder brother, Jett, lingering behind and sash completely off, "I guess you're a real angel now."

"FINALLY SO!" Peter cried, jumping a foot in the air as he screamed out laughing.

"Oh, an Angel of Confidence! What joy! Who will you be training with, Jane?" Finland asked, leaning forward to study her emblem.

"I have two mentors. Alfred Jones and an Ivan Braginsky. Jett says Alfred is distantly related to me, so, that's good."

"What about you, Peter dear? Who are the other Angels of Hope?"

"There are none!" he stated with triumphant glee, "Joy, Determination, and other Angels similar to Hope have been combining their powers for the last decade to make up for the Angel of Hope who was allowed entry to Heaven before me. So now, I'm the one and only! I'm going to train with an Angel of Joy."

"Which one?"

Peter smiled, and Tino needed not ask more. Given that he was an angel baring the sun of Joy on his breast he couldn't feel anything other than such at the thought of training his young one. He imagined Peter's unwavering smile as he struck an arrow into his first patient. Maybe he would let him stay a bit longer than was usual and allow Peter a glance at the effects of his arrow of hope on the lucky soul. The boy would probably fly 'round the earth an back in excitement! Lost in thought, Tino didn't notice the small blonde girl wander up to Berwald and tap his leg.

"Yes?"

"Oh. Sorry! I- I just...have you seen mein bruder? He was supposed to-"

"LILLIE!" The girl in question spun around to see her cousin, or perhaps her half-brother, it had never been cleared up, running towards her waiving triumphantly. "Lilz, I've been looking all over the place for you!" he said panting, as he finally reached her side. Lillie wondered for a moment how she had failed to see him, considering his glistening, silver hair and crimson eye-color.

"Where is Vash?"

"He sent me to come get you, Lillie!"

"So, let's go!"

"Where is Vash?"

Lillie knew her brother, and she knew one thing for sure about him, it was not like him to be late. Punctuality he seemed to value second only to his privacy. Today, he was not only late, but he seemed to lack presence at all. Had that really been the case, he would send a slew of other angels to retrieve his sister before he even considered sending her cousin-brother. He bore the emblem of a party popper, signaling he was an Angel of Fun, yet somehow very few angels tended to have an ounce of fun in his presence. Her brother was of the other majority.

"Like I said, he sent me to pick you up."

"Why didn't he send Ludwig? Where is he?"

"Well, you see, there was a bit of a situation," Her albino cousin-brother paused to scratch his head and heave a sigh, prepping to tell a story in what Lillie presumed would be the way Vash described as 'wasting his time and draining his infinite life'. "There was this woman, and she was stuck in a bit of a bad relationship. Her boyfriend is very abusive and makes life hard for her and her daughter, basically. So, Vash went to go handle it, Angel of Strength that he is and all. He forgot to claim it when he went, so Ludwig also went to handle it. Not only were they there but Elizabeth, and an Angel of Confidence. So, all at once they struck the woman without realizing each other, and under the influence of strength times two, courage, and confidence, the woman literally threw her boyfriend out and scared the neighbors so badly they called the cops on her. She got arrested. The four of them were called before the Angels of Angels for having caused more harm than good unto an innocent human."

"What? D-Do you think he'll..." the girl's face twisted into concern as she stared at the ground.

"No, no. He'll be fine. He'd be in trouble if he did this on his own but it was all four of them. Since they're all on trial right now, the awesome me was sent to get you!" He poured out a line of his ridiculous laugh before petting Lillie on the head with a grin.

"Oh. Okay," she let out a sigh of relief, "would you like to see my emblem?"

"Oh yea! NO! GOODNESS NO!"

"Uhm?"

"Your brother will probably kill me if anyone finds out before he does."

"You're probably right," the small girl replied with a giggle as the duo finally walked off from Jane and Peter's family, on the route home. "I hope he's proud of me."

"He'll be proud of you if you get Angel of Sleeping. Don't worry 'bout it Lilz." A small, yellow, messenger bird that had rested on his shoulder let out a chirp of encouragement and Gilbert raised a finger to pet it. The girl smiled lightly and tugged her ribbon out of her hair, only to replace it on the other side. Yes, he would surely be proud. As she felt a dust of blush rise to her cheeks, she began to shuffle through the papers she had been given trying to busy her brain.

"Do you know a Von Bock?" she asked, carefully reading the name from a small card amongst her stack of information.

"Nope. Why?"

"He's the angel I'm set to train with," she flipped the card over and found his contact information. She would have to get her brother to phone him later. "I hope he's nice."

"Lilz, he's an angel," Gilbert retorted. And thus, they laughed.

* * *

"Hello. My name is Ivan," an unrealistically tall man said, leaning down. Perhaps it was just the way he blocked the sunlight from hitting his face when he did so, but his smile changed and almost looked demonic to the poor child he was leaning over.

"I-I'm Jane," she extended a hand and willed it not to shake, "newly appointed Angel of Confidence". They shook, and her second mentor, another Angel of Confidence jumped in and shook her other hand with such vigor it set her off her balance and she fell into him. The man in question, wearing an unwavering smile, rounded-square glasses, and not seeming to mind his one aggravating cowlick promptly lifted Jane off her feet and held her suspended in the air.

"Name's Alfred!" he all but screamed, "nice to meet 'cha kiddie! I'm super excited to have an underling, dude!" Jane studied how from his human life he was clearly American. That meant he couldn't have died more than 300 years ago, which made him fairly young amongst the angels. Maybe he wouldn't be the best person to train with if he hadn't even been here for 5 centuries like most.

"Set me down already," she snapped, crossing her arms. Alfred did as he was asked and Jane took a moment to smooth back down her white skirt. These were surely the oddest angels on the planet. A man who, despite the heat of being so near the sun all the time, wore a full trench coat and matching white scarf with cloud boots, and another who seemed oblivious to his boisterous attitude. Then again, that was kind of the way her closest brother, Jett, was. She had still decided she hated him, but couldn't stop the small frown-smile that planted itself on her face when he started jumping in circles shouting in excitement at her presence. Ivan, who was still smiling, managed to look irritated.

"Have you ever been to the surface, Jane?"

"No."

"So, dude, this is like your first landing?!"

"I'm not a 'dude'," she responded, flipping her ponytail with endless sass, "and yes, it is."

"Oh, dude," he cried, excitement making him seem to ignore Jane's distaste, "I absolutely love flying on the surface! You feel so free with that much space to roam! Can we go now? Can we Ivan? Let's go now!"

"We ca-" but before Ivan finished his sentence, Alfred had grabbed Jane by the hand and began tugging her in the direction of the drop-off. As she neared, Jane felt her confidence draining - not a good sight for an angel of her type. She'd never felt very comfortable flying at all, actually. When she was just getting her wings in, Jett had tried several times to take her to the drop off with the other kids so she could get in some good flying practice, and the girl always refused calling it stupid or pointless. She learned the bare minimum she had needed to pass the flight tests, and other than that, she stayed on her feet.

Their group grew exponentially closer to the drop-off, a crisp, fine-cut edge to the clouds they had been walking on that led to levels of Earth's atmosphere, lower down clouds, and eventually the surface. A knot twisted her stomach into several painful poses and Jane tugged away from her captor. Alfred and Ivan glanced back at her with equal confusion.

"I..."

What could she say? She didn't want to go over the edge? She was too scared to fly to Earth and do her job? Her face twisted as she tried to find the right answer and the girl grew into herself, closing her stance and wrapping her arms over her chest. Her thoughts were halted by a beeping noise coming from a device she had been given from one of the magic angels. She pulled it out and looked. A little, green dot flashed on the screen a bit of a ways away from a white dot.

"The white is you," Ivan explained, leaning over her shoulder and pointing to the device, "and the green is a human who needs your help."

"Right..." Jane commented, glancing at the sign reading 'WARNING: Drop-off into Human-realm. Exercise caution.' "because humans can't feel confident without us."

"That's not entirely true," Ivan commented, straightening up and smiling yet again. "They can, it's just sometimes, they need a little extra push." He pulled an arrow out of thin air and eyed it. "I wonder if these things will ever hurt them." There was that demonic smile again.

"We gotta go now. There's not much time before opportunities pass to guide people," Alfred spoke. He was standing at the edge with one foot already over the edge. There was no need to claim the mission since all three angels of confidence where on it at once. Jane took a deep breath, and tried to remember what exactly her brother had told her. Something about..oh...yes. "I was scared at my first drop-off too. The trick is, just don't look down." She sighed, taking a few steps towards the ledge and ignoring the butterflies in her stomach. How had Jett always been able to read her so easily? She spun on her heel and looked at Ivan, who was behind her. She saluted him, and allowed her body to fall backwards off the ledge. Someone, somewhere, needed her help. She was an angel of confidence, and she was going to have some herself even if it killed her. She couldn't just leave some poor, sad human to not have any hel-

Holy crap.

Oh no.

Oh! _NO!_

 _OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS NO!_ An ear-splitting scream filled the skies as the young angel lost herself. Wind whipped through her hair, tossed her skirt in 45 million directions, chilled her skin, and the blackness she was seeing from having her eyes closed didn't seem to help. She opened them, and saw her home, the cloud-island she had grown up on, getting ever and ever smaller as she fell away from it. Her eyes snapped back shut and she screamed again, clutching into herself. Angels couldn't die. Hurt themselves, sure, but not die. Regardless, the girl became a cannonball sailing through the air, hoping the pose and level of tightness at which she held her eyes shut would keep her organs from floating out of her body as it felt they would.

"JAANEEEEE!" She hadn't heard the initial call over her own screams or the whipping wind. She knew she should open her eyes, and look over at Alfred, who was calling out to her. He would talk to her in Falleng, a language the angels had developed using only their hands and facial expressions. It was the best way to talk considering their deafness at the wind, but she couldn't will herself to do it. She tried to focus on what he was saying, rather than the horrible disoriented feeling she felt having no footing as her cannon-ball body began to slowly spin in circles.

"IF YOU...'T LIKE...LLING...O..EN...YO...WINGS!"

The young angel immediately put the message together in her head and outstretched her body. Before she could process the new fear of not being enclosed, a set of white, luxurious wings sprouted from her back and caught the wind - too much of the wind, actually. She soared high over the heads of Alfred and Ivan, who had fallen after her, and screamed again, trying to regain control. She teetered and tottered for a while before finally feeling comfortable. The cool wind dusted between her feathers and she finally opened her eyes again. They had fallen out of the clouds and by now where thousands of feet over the ocean. Alfred and Ivan quickly caught up, taking flight beside her. She glanced at Alfred first, who was laughing. He raised his hands and said to her in Falleng:

"So, you don't like the feeling of falling?"

"I'm an angel," she signed back, "it's only natural. We're meant to fly."

"Well," Ivan signed, joining the conversation, "We don't have much farther to fly. The human in need is actually quite close to the drop-off." With two bold flaps of his glorious wings, Ivan led the trio to the green dot. They landed in the ledge of a closed window, and Jane took a moment to appreciate her ability to phase through objects in the human realm. It was a little strange to be inside a window, but the invisibility coupled with this made an angel's job so much easier.

"We're early," Ivan commented, taking a more comfortable seat on the ledge.

"Early how?"

"This way," Alfred said, pointing at a woman standing in the room we were half inside, "we get to see the lead up to why the human needs confidence. I like being early." Jane looked down into the room and spotted a human lady, perhaps mid-twenties in age, pacing around in a small corridor. She was saying something to herself over and over in a language none of the three understood.

"What's she on about?"

"I don't know," Ivan said, pulling a device out of the air. Jane looked over her shoulder at her own carrying bag and wondered how long it would be until she learned to fabricate items instead of having to have them on herself to use them. He started to fiddle with it. "This is probably somewhere in Europe, based on where the base was when we fell. I'll see if I can't get my translator to work." As Ivan messed with it, the young angel grew bored of the woman and turned to Alfred. He was somehow her brother, or uncle, or maybe distant cousin, and the two had had shockingly little interaction despite that. She waited for him to look back at her, and then quietly inquired him.

"Do you like being an Angel of Confidence?" He nodded, and Jane raised an indignant eyebrow prodding for more. When Alfred caught on to this fact, he smiled and went on.

"I just like being able to make people feel like that."

"Like what?"

"Like...you know... confident! Okay, no, that's stupid. Just feeling like they can do anything. Like they can help, be that the world or themselves. Like they're not completely useless, and like their ideas and feelings are valid. This feeling of 'I'm the hero!' and now I get to save the day! You know?" Jane looked from Alfred to the woman and let a side-ways grin grow on her face. She did know. Suddenly, the woman's speech became clear.

"Uhm, , can I just...I just need to... if I could have a moment of your time...I..." she sighed and ceased her pacing.

"Translator's working."

"Dammit Julia," the woman commented, smacking her own face lightly. She sighed again, "maybe this was a mistake." The woman frowned and Jane realized, suddenly, Ivan and Alfred staring at her.

"She needs a bit of a confidence boost don't you think?" The young one nodded, and waited a tad confused.

"Okay, give it to her then!" Alfred cried, clapping. Jane's stunned expression said it all. Ivan reached into her bag and pulled out a small bow, made to fit her exact height. He handed her then a red and white arrow with the confidence emblem on the head of it.

"First," Ivan commented pointing to a dial on the bow, "You need to pick how much confidence you will give her. Level 10 is enough confidence to do something big, say, kill a lion with your bear hands." His smile creeped-right-up as a gruesome image of such filled Jane's head. "This is a small thing it seems, so maybe level 1 or 2 would be better, da?" Jane nodded, and shifted the dial from 5 down to 1.3. She looked back up again at Julia and raised her arms, strung the arrow, and took aim.

"Dude, whoa, aim for Julia not the freaking floor," Alfred stated, laughing, causing an embarrassed blush to dust Jane's cheeks.

"I KNOW! The best places to aim are the heart, head, and in the back between the shoulder blades, but anywhere on the body is effective. I did my study, you know." She flipped her hair in sass, and re-aimed, right for Julia's chest. A shaking arm strung the arrow back as far as it would go, before she released. The arrow whipped through the room, and landed right above Julia's breast. She seemed unaffected by the arrow and after a moment, it faded away into pixelated nothing. Julia then bounced off her seat, smiling beautifully.

"No, Julia!" she said to herself, taking steps towards a door she had been pacing outside of before, "You can do this! You deserve this promotion! Just go in there and do it!" she burst the door open and stated a much better version of her earlier rehearsed speech. " , may I have a moment of your time?" It was polite, yet assertive, and caused Jane to smile as Mr. Bot seemingly invited her in and Julia closed the door behind herself. A rough clap on her back roused her attention.

"You did it!" Alfred was smiling and eating something as he spoke, but it was encouraging never the less. "I bet she totally feels like a hero!"

"Yes," Ivan stated, leaning forward in such a way the sunlight failed to hit his face again. His smile distorted into a look of insanity, "She has all the powe- no, confidence, she needs now to conquer the world, and watch that loathsome boss of hers writhe in pain!" A moment of silence overtook the three as Ivan was lost in thought and Jane and Alfred stared at him, appalled. His smile softened into friendliness again. "We get going now, da?"

"Sure, dude." Alfred stood, and outstretched his wings, smiling at Jane. "I could do this all day!" He jumped off the ledge and flapped, gaining height in the air. His two accomplices were quick to follow. Jane giggled from the back of the group and felt she too, could do this all day.

* * *

So I really was going to go into Japan's part of the story now, but like, I just couldn't. This is already quite long cause I had a lot of little details I ended up throwing in, as I often do. Like I said, I'm using the stories of the young angels to secretly teach you information you will need for later about the angel world. It works best for them because, naturally, they'd be a little confused. There's no reason for Japan to go around affirming these things. In the next part I do have a teensy tiny bit to cover with Liet, but HOPEFULLY, the main freaking character will finally make his appearance.

In this chapter I tried to make it clear that despite Alfred and Ivan being the same kind of angel, they have different approaches. Alfred wants to make people feel heroic and Ivan wants to make people feel powerful. Did that come through? That s kinda the way it is with a lot of angels. They put their own spice on their job. This is really all I have to say so thank you for reading!

 **Please review! :)**


	3. First Recall

The wait for chapters has been ridiculous, I know, so I'm making this one a little longer so you can have something to read. I do have more follows and reviews on my story regarding Prussia, _These Wounds Won't Seem to Heal_ , so when I get behind for this I'm likely to write a chapter for that first and I keep those fairly long. If you want more chapters, gimmie more reviews? Lol no, I will continue to update regardless, and mostly take turns writing for the two stories, but I would appreciate reviews! Okay, enough begging, let's get this chapter goin'.

 **Human Names Used...**  
Japan - Kiku Honda  
Hong Kong - Li Xiao, Li, Leon  
Taiwan - Mei  
China - Yao  
America - Alfred  
England - Arthur  
Germany - Ludwig Beilshmidt  
Hungary - Elizabeta Hedevary  
Liechtenstien - Lillie  
Prussia - Gilbert  
Switzerland - Vash Zwingli  
EXTRA - Raymond Boward

* * *

"Vater."

"Ludwig."

"Aldarik."

"Hello and good morning to you Ludwig, Elizabeta, Vash, and Raymond. Could you please reassess us on the situation?"

"Of course," Ludwig commented, taking a step forward. He was standing in the Hall of Discipline, one of the sectors of the Hall for Angels, owned and inhabited by the Angels of Angles, Wisdom, and Learning. He looked up at Aldarik, who was sitting next to his father, Everet, on a high podium. His father, a built, stern, blonde man, resembled his son greatly, the only differences being longer hair and wider wings. Everet, on the other hand, was an olive-skinned, cheerful brunette who Ludwig was growing more accustomed to due to being good friends with one of his grandsons.

"I'm glad we came," said Lillie, who was sitting in the stands with her new permission to as an Angel of Learning. She spoke to her guest, Gilbert, as she leaned over the banister and eyed her brother.

"I will keep it concise. Mr. Zwingli, Ms. Hedevary, Mr. Boward, and meinself, Ludwig Beilshmidit, all reported to the same call and struck the same human woman with several, high-dosage arrows." Ludwig waited patiently for a response.

"Dosages?" Everet asked, pulling a cap from a pen.

"Mine was eight of strength," Ludwig retorted.

"Eight point five of strength," Vash added.

"Uhm," Elizabeta spawned her bow and studied it before answering, "nine point four of courage. I'm sorry." Thankfully, Mr. Boward's dosage was only a five. Lillie offered Gilbert a concerned look, to which he responded with a wide grin.

"What were the effects of your…mishap?" Aldarik smiled encouragingly after asking this, as the four angels in question eyed each other, all refraining from speaking.

"The subject," began Lillie's beloved brother, "yelled at her husband, and fought back against his abuse. In her doing so, she gave the man a slew of bruises and a cut under the eye. She pushed him out of their house, and began throwing his belongings at him from the second story window. The noise startled neighbors, who called the police, and the subject was arrested." Murmurs ran through the crowd, specifically through Lillie's section, where she took to panicking at a certain albino.

"They've done more harm than good! Oh this is horrible, Gilbert! Mein bruder…all of them will be, oh I can't even think of what! They could lose their wings, or their emblems, or be sent back to the mortal life! Do you think they would really lose their wings? Or…Or even!" The horror on her face told Gilbert exactly what she was thinking.

"No one is being sent to the Lower Level. Vati has got us covered, don't sweat it!"

"But what about the other?"

"Birdie and the Vargas boys told me he's pretty chill. Plus, I know this sounds bad, but you have to remember, it was four of them who did this and not one alone. Maybe Vash would be in trouble if he managed to screw up this badly by himself, but he didn't. He has the blood of mein awesome, he couldn't!"

Everet clearing his throat silenced the room, and he turned his attention to Aldarik. The two spoke in such a hushed tone the angels nearest them couldn't hear them. They whispered for a while, Aldarik laughed, Everet blushed and demanded Aldarik pay attention, they proceeded their whispering, and finally pulled apart and Everet raised a gavel.

"For decreasing the quality of life of the subject, each of the four of you will receive the same punishment of two days probation and four weeks surveillance. "

"What does that mean?" Lillie asked, trying to remain calm.

"Two days of not being allowed to take calls or work as an angel, and a month of being watched whenever they go out from here on out. It could be worse, really."

"In that case," Lillie said standing and following the flow of the existing crowd, "let's go catch up with Vash, so I can take him to the Hall of Magic. Big bruder will need his emblem temporarily removed, and speaking of, he still hasn't seen mine!"

"And if he asks, neither have I," Gilbert remarked, rubbing his throat for fear of it soon being slashed by a jealous elder brother. The two laughed as they shuffled around their chairs.

* * *

Kiku was a bit amazed at his ability to fool people. Angels flew on past him without a word as he sat, very, very nervously, outside the Hall of Angels. His staid expression and polite motionlessness seemed to deter anyone from thinking anything of him. Anyone except someone who'd known him nearly his whole life.

"What's up?"

It was his brother who finally spoke to him, the youngest of the family, Li Xiao. He'd grown to just prefer Li, or Leon by his white friends who otherwise botched the pronunciation, and stood now outside the hall, shifting through letters in his satchel. His side job as an angelic messenger gave him a little extra money, and something to talk about when his favorite sister, Mei, asked for an update on town gossip. Perhaps tonight, Kiku would be the center of that gossip.

"Recall," the older of the two replied, gesturing to his shirt, where in which his usual emblem was replaced with a red, flashing "R".

"Yikes. Should you be worried?" Li was also talented in fooling people. The slight, ever so slight minutia of his raised brow showed Kiku that he truly did care, whereas every other facet of his face screamed in painful boredom.

"No," Kiku lied, "it will likely be fine." He thought back to the last time he'd been on call for a mission. Just the day prior, Kiku had flown to a football, or rather, soccer game in South Carolina. A team in green had beaten a team in white, and the girl who won the winning goal, Laura, ran to her mother in tears; evidently, Laura's best friend, Hannah, played for the other team, and was crushed at having lost. Laura's mother, Karmin, was generally disinterested the entire time the game was being played and failed to see what the point of sports was, wishing her daughter to focus more on her studies.

Kiku pulled a double-ended arrow from the wind and took aim. Upon release, the arrow-head split in two, one side going into Laura's shoulder, the other into Karmin's temple. Both girls absorbed the angelic power from Kiku's arrows of pride, and suddenly their reactions changed.

"MOM! I did it! I finally won a game!"

"Yes, that's amazing princess, I am so proud of you!" Karmin cried, scoping the girl up and spinning her around. Kiku smiled feeling his job done; Laura was proud of herself, and Karmin was proud of her daughter. He nearly flapped away, but paused when he heard the next line.

"You see THAT Diana?! My little girl WON! And what did yours do but warm the bench?" Karmin laughed loudly in the other mother's face, and set her daughter down, who promptly ran away to help Hannah off the ground. Hannah stood, dusted herself off, and looked at her shoes blinking back tears.

"What Hannah? Gonna cry? It's okay, maybe next time you'll be half as good as me," the girl mocked, sniggering. Kiku then took flight and set a marker on the area, calling for an Angel of Compassion or Empathy to come and fix the situation. Surely his dosage of 4.2 wasn't too high. They seemed to react just as he'd wanted them to…initially. The man flew faster, hoping to God someone would swoop in and save the day before Karmin or Laura said something more they'd regret.

The following morning, when Kiku woke, he put his shirt on in the mirror, and stood there waiting for it to register who he was, and display his glowing emblem of pride. The shirt instead beeped, and flashed an 'R' - the R of recall. He knew it meant he was being summed to the Hall of Magic to get a new role as an angel. It was a somewhat common occurrence after all; angels changed personalities all the time. Just, considering the circumstances, Mr. Honda was more than a little scared the Angels of Magic would send him to Hall of Discipline where he would have to deal with the Angels of Angels for his blunder. Nothing goes unchecked when an angel does more harm than good.

"I'm not worried in the slightest," He affirmed, mostly to himself, but his brother replied.

"Well then get a move on," he said, pointing to a sign flashing green, indicating it was Kiku's turn to go in. He stood, bowed to Li, and moved for the door.

"Kiku!" greeted an old friend.

"Good morning Arthur-san." He bowed to the man. Arthur made reference to Li, by waving at him over Kiku's shoulder and shouting a "Good day, Leon" as the door shut.

"Here for recall I see?" Arthur asked, already mixing potions and powders in a bowl before him as Kiku took to a seat across from Arthur's workspace. Arthur quickly formed a concoction, and walked around his table to be closer to Kiku. He dipped a hand in the potion and murmured something in a distant language, before splashing the liquid on Kiku. It dried rather quickly, and the 'R' on the Japanese man's shirt flashed away into an emblem, then another, and another. The flashing emblems continued until the spot on his chest went black. The two men stared at it in anticipation for Kiku's new role.

It remained black.

"How long is this supposed to take, Arthur-san?"

"Not this long," the Brit stated, making his way back around the table and grabbing a fresh bowl. He combined materials in it again, and again threw the mess onto his friend. The motion of the emblems and then blackness repeated itself.

"Arthur-san…"

"Kiku, stand for a second," Arthur said, pulling rolling, divider walls out from the sides of the room. He shielded the other man on both sides as he stood. "May I see your wingspan?" Kiku did as he was told, forced his wings out of his back, and spread them within the confines of the two "walls". Arthur waved, and Kiku retracted his wings, confused and concerned, as the Englishman made his way around the table again.

"Arthur-san what is the matter?" He ignored the questioned and shuffled through boxes and drawers under his work station. Finally, he pulled out a small pill bottle seeming to be satisfied, and ran all too close to Kiku, hiding the both of them in the dividers' privacy.

"Kiku, take one of these every four hours ON THE HOUR. It is imperative that you are not even a second late," he assertively whispered, pushing the bottle towards his friend. "Take one now." Mr. Honda took a step back, to re-affirm the small bit of personal space he liked to have, and downed one of the pills with the aid of some water. It burned his chest for a moment, but the black circle on his chest faded into the emblem of pride, which greatly pleased both parties.

"Arthur-san, why-"

"I'll come to your place and explain later," Arthur whispered, pushing the dividers away. He looked cautiously around the room and when he found none of the other angels paying him too much mind, he leaned into Kiku's ear, much to the other man's displeasure, and whispered "don't tell anyone about this. Don't let anyone see you with these. And remember, every. Four. Hours. Alright?" He pulled away and barely gave the other man time to nod before he ushered him out of the hall.

"Have a lovely day, Kiku," Arthur cried, "and maybe stay indoors," the man added a bit more quietly. He closed the hall doors, and the light on the side went then from red to green, indicating availability. A young, blonde angel stood, and urged one she had come with, an older man looking very similar to her save a ribbon in not in his hair, into the hall. Kiku looked at his chest, ran a hand over the pills contained in his pocket, and began his walk home, happy no one could see just how much more panicked and scared he was.

* * *

Arthur had said to take the medication every four hours exactly. But at what time did Kiku first take the pill was the question. It was probably around 11:30 a.m., he'd concluded, but at what minute? What second? Would taking the pill early lead to overdose? What where these pills anyways?

The man sighed and set down his spatula. The crackle of oil filled the room as he glanced up at the time, 3:02 p.m., and then back at his chest. The pride emblem was still there.

"DUUDE?! YOU HOME?!" _Well, so much for solitude._

"Yes, I'm in the kitchen, Alfred-san." Kiku mentally sighed as he heard Alfred's feet thump on his floor, growing ever closer. Why did the man always feel he could just barge in anytime he wanted? At least he took his shoes off without being asked.

"Kiku! What's up man?"

"Nothing much, Alfred-san. I assume something happened with you?" He turned his attention back to the fish in his pan, and Alfred walked up to the counters nearest Kiku, leaning on them, and speaking several levels too loudly.

"I got an underling! This cute little thing named Jane! Dude, like, my teaching skills were top notch, and Ivan barely got a word in."

"You're partnered with Ivan-san again?"

"YES! Can't the council see no one likes him?! Especially not me!" Kiku couldn't argue with that; Ivan was not his favorite person either. His elder brother, Yao, seemed quite fond of the man, and Kiku had is suspicions about their relationship being more than just friendship, but other than that he'd rarely met anyone who whole heartedly liked him but his sisters. Alfred tended to just be too blunt about it, provoke his common partner, and get them both into trouble by causing fights.

"He's good at what he does, and that's rude Alfred-san."

"Yea yea, okay, dad, I'll be good," Alfred teased, clapping Kiku on the back a fair bit too hard. He stumbled forward into the stove and nearly set his clothes on fire. That was another thing about Alfred, he seemed to never know his own strength. Kiku stepped back, patting the dangerously hot spot on his garments a fair bit frazzled. Alfred failed to notice.

"Yo, we should watch more Clannad!" Kiku let out another mental sigh at this notion. Alfred was horribly clingy and loud when the duo watched horror movies, often forcing Kiku to stay up all night with him out of fear, or trapping him in an unbreakable bear-hug, but the blonde was honestly worse with dramas. Clannad, as sad and unmerciful a show as it was, would no doubt leave Alfred in a pool of tears, especially considering the next episode's content. He flipped his fish off the pan, on top of a plate of rice and clicked off the stove.

"Alfred-san, I don't know if-"before he had a chance to finish, he was dragged out of the kitchen by the hand, sat on the couch, and the intro song was already playing. The Asian man settled into his couch and smiled lightly, having expected nothing less. This was Alfred after all. He glanced at a clock on the wall adjacent them, made note of the time, and made note of his emblem, still glowing. Kiku had had the drapes drawn in his living room, making it fairly dark when coupled with the lights being clicked off. The glow of the T.V. enveloped the two and Kiku waited as the episode drew on. It was mostly silent, both emerged in the tale, until the "Clannad song" started to play. It was a clear indication of the most devastating moment of the episode, and by this point, Alfred was already curled up into a ball on the couch, leaning onto Kiku, destroying a pillow, and blinking back stubborn tears.

"Dude…" he murmured.

"Dude, no." It was a little louder.

"No. NO. OH MY GOD, DUDE, NO!" And thus began the hysterics. Alfred ditched the pillow he'd taken refuge on, and wrapped both arms around Kiku in a grip just short of the light of death. He sobbed openly, and screamed fragmented sentences of objection towards the screen.

"Alfred-san, if you could please sto-" Kiku began, but his breath was cut off by the tightening grip. He felt his heart begin to panic.

"Alfred-san," a significant blush took the man's cheeks and he wished he'd had a better way of showing how overwhelmed he was. He attempted to push himself out and free, but Alfred only pulled on tighter when the character on the screen started crying too. "Alfred-san, please don't hold onto me like this, I can't… breathe." It came out very strained with what little air Kiku could manage, but Alfred seemed yet again not to notice. Kiku, now feeling as if screaming, but actually only speaking a little loudly, was clawing at – or rather gently slapping – Alfred in his attempt to escape. He wanted to laugh, or do the Kiku equivalent of a laugh, at how ridiculous Alfred looked. He wanted to sneakily rub it in his friend's face that he was overreacting, just as Kiku had hypothesized he would. It's just, these things were hard to do when you were in the middle of being strangled. His chest began to burn as he half laughed, half choked. "Alfre-"

 _This man has absolutely no grasp of human decency._ Around his family, Kiku's radius of personal space fell ever smaller, to the point of allowing Yao and Mei to touch him as they pleased with little to no objection. When with friends, each person had their specific bubble, and Alfred always seemed to attack his delicate boundaries of comfort and social acceptability with a chainsaw. Kiku had given him plenty of leeway because of his nature; allowing high fives, pats on the back, the occasional hug, even a bit of clinginess when Alfred was caught in his emotions, but that was a BIT of clinginess. This was ludicrous. He had no respect, no consideration, no understanding of personal space, and fell deaf every time Kiku tried to _politely_ tell him to stop. It was so…very…irritating! The man knew he deserved to be respected, and obeyed, be it about matters of his own body or anything else; he was a _Honda_ , elder considered and highly ranked angel - no one was going to suggest otherwise.

"Alfred-san," he snapped, "Don't. _Touch._ Me." Venom dripped from his voice as he spoke, and his tone certainly caught Alfred's attention that time. He pulled away, raising his hands in a sign of surrender. Kiku pulled away himself, wide eyed, or as wide-eyed as his emotionlessness would allow, stunned by his own outburst. Surely he had more self-restraint than that. _It wasn't such a big deal Alfred was all over me. Life threatening, disobedient, and annoying ,yes, absolutely_ – Kiku shook his head lightly – _but not that big a deal._ Kiku could hardly see Alfred in the dim room, but he could make out the other man, no, his friend's, hurt and shocked expression.

"I," Kiku stood, turned towards Alfred and bowed near 90 degrees, "I apologize Alfred-san, I don't know what came over me." Flustered, he made his way out of the living room and into the hall and sped-walked to his restroom.

* * *

So now the story, as you can see, is starting to pick up. As you can also see, this chapter steps away from the little angels and gets into the action, as promised, with Kiku. It's a pretty quick start to the story but considering my slow updates, I wanted to give y'all a lot to work with.

Now, I don't want to super, super reveal what just happened, but **if you have a theory feel free to let us know in the reviews.** I'm trying to go for a situation whereas if you ever re-read this, it would make much more sense because you know what the outcome is going to be…you feel? But also, I don't think I was subtle with that at all…so maybe you've already got this thing figured out.

Finally, I tried to make Kiku's relationship with Alfred a little...idk interesting? Like I know Kiku is really proper and polite but I love to imagine he's a fair bit sassier in his head. Also, Alfred's attitude could easily annoy anyone, so from time to time even Kiku must get sick of him, but I'm hoping he also loves what's annoying about him. **Did that come through okay** , or was it too contradictory and confusing (minus Kiku's outburst, of course)?


	4. First Re-Dose

So this chapter is kind of short. I'm sorry about that. I just...I don't have much time to write and I don't much know what more to write. I'm trying to slow the story down a bit, but also have things develop. Plus I don't think I did too decent a job on showing Kiku and Alfred's friendship in here but I tried. *sigh* let's just get to the story.

* * *

 **Angels for Recall**

* * *

 _What just happened?_ Kiku stood staring at himself in the bathroom mirror, wide eyed and appalled. _What did I just do? What did I just SAY?_ The deep breaths he was taking betrayed him as his heartbeat tumbled on, a mile a minute. He could hear his voice echoing in his head:

"Don't. Touch. Me." Had he really sounded that...harsh when he said it? No. There was no way. He would never treat Alfred like that. He...didn't think...

He shook his head and sighed. What WAS he thinking? Himself, somehow more sensible than Alfred? Classier? More dignified? Better? He turned the facet handle and let a pool of cold water build in his hands before sloshing it onto his face. He watched a drop glisten down his chin as he reached for a face towel. His thoughts were the worst part of it; at least his mouth still had some control or he would have said the full phrase he wanted to: "Don't. Touch. Me. You, heathen." His mind wondered back to the moment, picking up a few insults and vainglorious comments. What had he done?

 _Well, I told the truth for once. What is the point of always holding and minimizing my emotions anyways? Maybe everyone around me will stop acting like idiots and madmen if I-_

He threw the towel down, lacerated that line of thought, and stormed out of the bathroom towards the kitchen. Maybe a tub of ice cream would make proper amends with Alfred, and maybe a couple sticks of pocky would calm him down. He walked cautiously back into his dim living room to find Alfred, fully recovered, and smiling at him.

"Dude, sweets?!"

"Ice cream. I found coffee flavored last time I went shopping and-" the tub was ripped from his hand before he finished the sentence. He let out an amused breath to counteract the thoughts of how rude the action was that cluttered his mind.

"Thanks, Keeks!"

"My name is not, nor has it ever been, 'Keeks'." There was that fearfully venomous voice again.

"Okay, man, take a joke. Who pissed in your cereal this morning?"

He found himself bowing for the second time in ten minutes as he said, "My apologies, Alfred. I really don't know what's gotten into me." He reclaimed his spot on the couch and popped open the box of Pocky. Alfred had swapped from Clannad to the reboot of Sailor Moon to give his emotions a break. That was, unless Sailor Jupiter was supposed to come about in this episode; Alfred was a fan, a BIG fan. Alfred pressed play and the intro music started to play; Kiku smiled lightly as his earlier days of watching the original Sailor Moon and falling in love with it resurfaced.

"Dude, it's your wife!" Alfred teased as Sailor Mercury flashed across the screen. Kiku seemed to have a different wife, who was sometimes male, for every show he watched. Alfred, one of his only nerd-friends, knew thought that his ultimate wife, or waifu as he called her, was Hatsune Miku, hands down. He chuckled into his fist at the joke.

"And where's yours?" Kiku asked, using his fingers to form 'V''s around his eyes in reference to Tuxedo Mask. He received a shove in response. The man wanted to laugh, but instead found himself a little irritated by the notion. He managed to keep quiet, but was certain he was glaring, which was something Alfred would pick up. The two sat on the couch, Kiku shifting back and forth, half forcing himself to get closer to Alfred and half feeling repulsed by the man. Alfred, in his usual obliviousness, enjoyed the show laughing at every joke and containing what would have been a horribly girly and embarrassing squeal at tuxedo mask's appearance.

"Hey, Kee- Kiku?" Instead of responding, Kiku looked at his friend by the corner of his eye.

"What's up with your kyemono...well, like...robe situation, bro?" Alfred commented, mouth half full of some chips he'd acquired, "your emblem is gone." Blinded by the darkness, the American couldn't see Kiku turn a Gilbert-like shade of white as he glanced frantically from his chest to the clock. The pills! In all the craziness he'd forgotten about watching the time for when to take the pills! It was now 4:28!

"I..yes, I" he stood, making his way towards the arch exit of the room, searching his mind for an excuse, "It's... let me just go re-calibrate it. This kimono's angel-identification physics have been a little odd lately. It's quite old." He scuffled out of the room to his bedroom, where a label-less pill bottle was tucked into the bottom of one of his drawers. He shook out a pill and looked at the time; luckily it was exactly 4:30, so that would make knowing when to re-dose easy. Without water due to nervousness and lack of time, he swallowed down the little white capsule and waited. The very moment his chest stopped burning, and the emblem resurfaced, he felt oddly...empty.

Not empty in a bad way, empty as to mean flushed out. As if before, his body was stuffed well past capacity and could burst at any moment.

 _What's in these things? Speaking of, England had yet to come over, as he'd promised, and explain the madness to me._ He grabbed his cellphone from one of the folds of his kimono, swapped his keyboard to English in the settings, and typed a quick message.

"Alfred-san, not to bother you, but I was wondering when you could come over to explain whatever it was that happened today. Also, are there any concerns with not taking pills on time or side-effects?" He pressed send, immediately regretted how informal he sounded, but stood regardless and made his way back to the show. Alfred had paused it in waiting, and was pleased to see a little man depicted on his Japanese friend's breast, with a hand crossed over his chest - the emblem of Pride.

* * *

Arthur felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, again, and again feared it was Kiku. How bloody many angels would he alone have to care for? The other six angels of magic, including his symbolic right and left hands, Lukas and Vlad, had all gone down to earth. There was a little girl, who was in a comma. If she died, she was destined to be an angel. If she didn't, she would need help to get out of the limbo of the spirit realm and into her body. For once, the angels of magic had something to do on the surface, and of course, they left Arthur in charge and completely alone. He had taken angel after angel on in an endless loop as the line out the door stretched around the block. He hadn't had time to take his lunch break, feed his unicorn, check his phone, or go and visit Kiku.

He untied a lock of bear's fur and threw it into the pot he was working over. Of course the spell he needed to now re-create four times to strip an angel of their emblem was extremely difficult to make. He'd had to swoop down to the earth, or even to the underworld's gates more than once to find new ingredients and continue to tweak the potion. Every angel's lifting concoction was a little bit different, and he had thus-far stripped Ludwig of the ability to be an angel of creativity, fun, and passion, but not yet of his actual role, strength. He poured a sample of the potion into another small cup and handed it to the bulky blonde in question. He sipped it, and, finally, God bless FINALLY, his emblem faded away.

"There! Took bloody long enough. Now, that will last the 2 days you were sentenced. Now, excuse me but, Vash, what kind of angel did you say you were again?" He had already started mixing a new bowl together.

"I'm also an angel of strength."

"Oh, great! Here, have this too!" He watched the other man drink, almost happy for the first time since his crazy shift had started, but the smile faded- rather vanished - with Vash's emblem didn't.

"You said Angel of Strength, right?"

"Yes."

"So...then why..." that was when a little girl in the corner coughed, and roused Arthur's attention. He glanced in the general direction and quickly located an angel he had given assignment earlier that same, endless day.

"Lillie, dear what brings you back here? I'm in an appointment."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just waiting on my bruder." He hand raised as she made a gesture towards the man Arthur was taking an empty, ineffectual cup from. He turned blue.

"Your brother, is Vash here?"

"Yes."

"Are you two blood related?"

"Yes," the man in question interjected with a twinge of anger, "why all the questions for my sister?"

"It's just, if she is an Angel of Learning, it's likely that any blood relatives she spends a copious amount of time with will have a fair bit of the ability in themselves as well," The blue in his face faded to green, "so to strip you of your emblem I'll have to eradicate that as well."

Arthur had had the potion for stripping an angel of learning of their powers memorized. The very first ingredient, was the naturally-shed blood of a bird. The man almost nearly cried at the thought of having to track birds, wait for one of them to cut themselves, and then follow the blasted thing around until it dripped enough blood into his cup. Again, Arthur's phone vibrated. He screamed a slew of sacrilegious curses.

* * *

Kiku, who had by now sent Alfred on his way and found a watch to keep on, contemplated as he fell through the skies. The Pocky, precious little treat that it was, did indeed calm his nerves, or whatever that was, around Alfred. He would need to keep some in stock in his cupboard. An outbreak like that repeating was not acceptable. After all, Alfred was one of his best friends. The man was either more dim or more forgiving that the others Kiku could see putting on this list, but had he said anything even remotely close to that to his other friends, the result would have been disastrous. Arthur would take clear offence and leave, Yao, Li, or Yong Soo would turn on him and act just as nasty back, Feliciano and Gilbert would have cried, and he couldn't even piece together how others like Ludwig or Heracles would have reacted. He cared for his friends, cared for their opinion of him, and would not disrespect them like that.

He waited.

He waited for the thought to come in a slice his previous statement in half, to ensure him that his feelings of repulsion from them were justified. It never came. He would certainly have to keep his Pocky well stocked. Just then, the man opened his wings at let them catch the wind. He glided across the terrain of what he assumed was his home country when he was human; Japan. He found it to be a truly beautiful country from the ancient architecture and peaceful coastlines, to bustling city and reaching tourist attractions. The human he had been called to help was on the edge of Hokaido, where he now found himself gliding to the ground. As usual, he was early, so he retracted his wings and took a seat on the ground as a scene played out in front of him in his native language.

"What do you think, mother? I think it's quite nice."

"It's fine, Kenji." They were referring to a report the boy had written for school.

"Do you think-"

"Just wait for the grade, Kenji!" the mother snapped back before turning to resume her gardening. Kenji stared at her for several seconds, before making his way back inside, clearly angry. Kiku stood to follow him and walked quite literally through the door of the boys house and flew after him up the stairs. The door slammed in his face also had to be phased through.

"DON'T SLAM THE DOORS LIKE THAT!" A clearly older man cried out.

"Okay, father," Kenji replied. His voice sounded of true remorse and obedience, but on his face he was rolling his eyes 'bout into the next dimension. Kiku all too well understood this boy's struggle with containing himself and chuckled as he checked his watch. 6:02 pm - he still had plenty of time until he needed to re-dose. So far, so good. He refocused his attention to Kenji, who had just opened up some application on his phone allowing him to talk with a friend through video chat.

"Yea, so like, I read my mom my report and of course she freaked out on me. She basically had nothing good to say. Thanks mother. So supportive." The girl on the other line laughed and assured him it was okay.

"She's probably right anyway," he retorted with a sigh.

"Kenji-kun! No! You can't say stuff like that." Sensing a moment of truth coming, Kiku held his palm out and summoned his bow to it, eyes locked on Kenji. Upon generating, his bow was a fair bit heavier than he'd expected, and it fell to the ground. He then turned to pick it up.

It wasn't his bow. There were no arrows to accompany it. Instead, lying on the ground was a steel blade, curved to perfection, arching itself into a black, rubbery handle. Kiku recognized it immediately as the weapon of his people - a katana. He found himself allured to it; it was truly beautiful and seemed to fit his hand perfectly, not to mention it had a clear emblem of Pride glowing in the center of it. With more of his strength in mind, Kiku again grasped the handle and raised the weapon. It almost seemed like an extension to his arm.

"Kenji-kun, listen, Ando-Sensei is hard grader! You can't just get a low 'B' and think you're terrible when the rest of the class for 60's at best. You can't let your mom totally crush you." There it was, the window of opportunity Kiku needed. He stepped closer to Kenji, bow and ar- well, katana at the ready. _How do I do this? Just...slice through him with it? That seems a little heinous. Maybe I'll just nick his back to make sure this thing is safe._

With a precision he didn't know he had, Kiku sliced his new discovery through Kenji and left there a bright red lighting trail. After a few milliseconds, it evaporated, and Kenji smiled, new motivation found.

"You are so right Roko-chan! I think I did a damn good job on this and my mom not caring, as usual, doesn't change that." Roko clapped.

"Screw my freaking mom."

"Whoa, Kenji-kun!"

"No, don't whoa me! She deserves it! What has she ever done for me other than birth me? I could be a terrible child. I could do drugs, get girls pregnant, go to jail, or act like Hitadashi-san, but I don't! She should be grateful to have me in her life and she never is! I always do so well, and this essay is just more proof! Wait for the grade she says - very well, I will! And when I get an 'A', then what will she say?"

"Kenj-"

"NOTHING! She'll just eat her stupid dinner in silence like she always does. And that's the same thing she can do when she's old and decrepit and wants me to care about her. Don't look my way. Better hope your other son has something saved up for you because I don't have any yen to spare."

"I get that you're mad, Ken-kun, but maybe you should calm down on all that before someone hears you. You're usually the biggest advocate for 'respect your elders'. I never thought you would say-"

"Whatever Roko-chan. I didn't come here for judgement. Mostly because I don't deserve any." He pressed end on his call and rolled over in bed just as Kiku flew out of the room, leaving the sword behind. What had that thing done? Kenji seemed like such a sweet boy and then it just comes in and...and...and!

He set a marker on the spot for several different types of angels, including his brother, an Angel of Familial Love, to come and re-asses.

It was that katana. It had to be. He still had his emblem, it wasn't even close to time to re-take his medication, he'd just eaten three pocky sticks, the only thing different here was the sword. It claimed to be a sword of Pride, and was beautifully alluring to the Japanese man, but he now found himself repulsed by it.

 _Where had that demonic thing come from anyways? And where is Arthur-san already?_ Kiku's jaunty wings whipped through the winds as he soared away at near top speeds.

* * *

Okay. There you have it. The next chapter I guess. I do not think it is very good but I don't have time to re-write it (if I tried this chapter would never come out,guys). So, the be fair to those you waiting, here ya go. Hopefully the next one is less sucky. *half-hearted smile*


	5. First, an Overreaction

Alright, so updates are going to be few and far between, we may as well all just come to accept that because there's LITTLE I can do about it. My life is just too hectic to keep up with this posting every week or something like other author's do. For this reason, I'll try to keep them long. Right now I am neglecting lots of homework and college applications (oh crap) to write, so I hope you guys enjoy the fruits of my efforts!

In this chapter I sort of gently tapped the fourth wall. Hope no one minds. It also ended up a fair bit longer than usual. Ha. Oops.

* * *

 _ **Angels For Recall - Chapter 5**_

* * *

"I see, Ludwing-san, that's pretty rough." It was the morning after the katana incident and Kiku had not allowed himself to claim or go on any other missions since. He woke, took his pill, bathed, dressed, ate, and sat down for a cup of morning tea. He watched the sun rise as he drank and then retired inside to at least get some reports done if he wasn't going to do his work on earth. He'd also tried twice during the early morning to regenerate his bow and arrows. The first time, the katana landed gingerly in his hand and he immediately let it dissipate from his thoughts and vanish from the air. The second time, it appeared in his fist and caught a fleck of sunlight. It blinded him momentary, causing the man to wince and shut his eyes. Upon opening them, he stared at the sword for a moment. And a moment more. And a moment more. His relection looked back at him, porceline skin against a background of jett-black hair and raven eyes. He tilted the weapon and allowed light to hit it again, watching as a stream of white hit the blade. He thought then that he should forget about it, poof it up into air, make thing disapear, and try again for his bow and arrows.

But, he didn't want to. He genuinely didn't want to, and opted instead to stare at it wide eyed for a few minutes more, completely forgetting about the passing of time. That was when the doorbell rang, he finally did remove the instrument from existence, and he went off to greet his guests. They turned out to be his old friends, Ludwig and Feliciano. It wasn't like the two, well, it wasn't like Ludwig to come over unannounced, but he said Feliciano had begged quite persistently, and so, there they were. Their group was a little awkward for the man at times, as the blonde and brunette seemed to be much closer to each other than he could ever get with either of them, but this was the fate of a friend circle of three. Regardless of his interpreted distance from them, he loved and trusted them just the same. So, when Ludwig came over with a collar on his ankle to track his location, his emblem missing and replaced with a triangle of caution, and a bubbly Italian chasing his feet, he was happy to let them in. He heard the story of where the collar had come from, the punishments Ludwig was receiving for his blunder, and sympathized with his friend over what was now a kitchen table full of tea and snacks.

"It could be worse," the blonde man reasoned, uncomfortably petting the head of a brunette who'd snuggled into him in despair.

"What do you mean it could be worse, Ludwig? This is the worst! While you're on probation we can only hang out certain hours of the day." He looked drearily forwards, at Kiku, then over his head, sad eyes lingering from the cabinets to the clock to the fridge and back to the table.

"Really, Feliciano-chan, it's just two days. I think you will be alright." Kiku chuckled to himself silently as Feliciano took a big gulp of tea and patted his chest with a rough fist, seeming to have trouble getting it down along with a handful of something he'd hastily eaten.

"Yes," Ludwig commented, "not sneaking into my house for two nights won't kill you." The German man actually smiled, seeming pleased at the silence he was about to be blessed with, which earned a pout from his friend and closer snuggling.

"I'll be so lonely."

"You will have your brother with you, Lovino-san."

"Lovi never wants to sleep with me anymore!" Kiku pulled back slightly, and then relaxed. He always had to remind himself that nine times out of ten, Feliciano really did _just_ mean sleep.

"Feliciano, why don't you sleep in your own room?"

"It's dark in there, Luddy!"

"Don't call me that."

"You could turn on a night light or dim lamp," the Japanese man tried, tilting his head to the side and smiling lightly. Sometimes, dealing with Feliciano felt like dealing with a child, or a kicked puppy, and it was always amusing to find the solution to the man's petty problem and make him smile and grow giddy again. Speak of the devil, he heard a bark from the side room and all three of their heads turned to the source. Another bark. Following this, Pochi, Kiku's small dog, ran into the room, under the table, and took refuge from the three, much bigger dogs chasing him, in his owner's lap.

"Pochi-kun? Where you not playing nice?"

"I'm pretty sure that was Blackie, actually," Ludwig commented, offering the dog a stern glare. It tucked it's tail between it's legs and took a few, low steps of retreat. "She's been a little feisty lately for whatever reason." Kiku offered his dog a bread crust from the table, which he happily took and ran to another room to eat in private. The three other pets followed in suit, perhaps hoping to get a bite themselves.

"I've been thinking of getting a husky," Ludwig added, hoping to change the subject, "I've wanted one for so long, and I found some husky puppies for sale. They're very expensive, but I'd like one. Gilbert, maybe not, but I also found an albino, baby chicken, that I think I could get for him to make up for bringing yet another dog into the house."

"The house I can't go into!" Feliciano cried! The blond rolled his eyes and moaned at his failed diversion and Kiku spoke up.

"Feliciano, stop complaining," he snapped, purposely leaving off the honorific as a sign of disrespect he genuinely hoped the other picked up on, "sleeping in your own bed for two nights won't kill you. Stop being so weak if you want to associa..." he trailed off, staring at the table, eyes a little wide, having caught himself. He is eyes scanned in search of his holy grale and came up empty. Where had he put the pocky?! Oh yes, in his bedroom dresser, so he could always be near it. Foolish. He stood immediately with plans of retrieving it, plans that were trumped by a rough hand gripping his wrist.

"Kiku, that was quite...rude," the German man said pointedly, with an equally confused and threatening glare towards his friend.

"I-"

"You called me just Feliciano."

"I-" he stumbled on his words, regretting his snap decision to have done that.

"You called me just Feliciano!" the Italian cried, standing and...smiling? He actually jumped for joy, clasping his hands together on the way down. "You told me you only call people that, like without the little end thingie, if you're really close to them! So you're saying we're close friends now?!"

Kiku stared at the man, completely blank in the face, trying to think of the appropriate response. Or even process what was just said. Had the rude words he threw at him completely flown over this Italian's head and into some abyss? A silence befell the three as Kiku pondered. What he'd meant, when he said no honorifics was reserved for close people, was someone one was in a romantic relationship with. He couldn't possibly continue to call Feliciano just that under this pretext and keep a straight face. He also couldn't do that because it'd only be a matter of time before his other friends caught on, and then they would wonder why he didn't refer to them without honorifics. If he did it for one, he'd have to do it for all, or it'd be quite insulting, and he just couldn't bring himself to do that. He tried to imagine just the syllables for 'Ludwig' coming off his tongue, but just couldn't complete the thought without the 'san' accompaniment. Doing so made him think of himself and Ludwig, cuddling under a blanket, or perhaps spooning on the couch, himself the little spoon, the gentle blues of a television screen bouncing off their bodies as they watched a cute movie in the dark. Muscular arms would embrace him as he nuzzled into the other's warmth, not at all embarrassed by the closeness given their privacy. A loving smile would creep across Ludwig's face as he planted a tender kiss in his lover's hair. They would gaze longingly into each other's eyes, both blushing lightly, and share a sweet kiss under the window's stream of moonlight.

No. Just no. There was _TOO MUCH_ wrong with that image!

"Kiku." He felt his hypothetical boyfriend tug on his arm to draw his attention from the thought he'd lost himself in.

"I- no- I...Feliciano-san," the Italian drooped at his new name, "It's not a symbol of close friends, it's a symbol of romantic closeness, so, no. That's not what I'd meant." Ludwig then did one of his odd habits, a result of being around his dogs too often, and mimicked the action of a canine, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"What then did you mean by it, Kiku?"

"I...It...Well...it's a little disrespectful to...dis-include the honorific...but, I was just mocking that tradition!" he lied. Mocking and tradition had to come out of his mouth in succession, and left a bitter taste. He hoped desperately that his friends bought the excuse. "Anyways Feliciano-san, I shouldn't have done it and confused you like that. I apologize." He bowed slightly before shaking free of the German's grip and heading down the hall and into his drawer. He stuffed four crushed sticks of pocky into his mouth as best and quickly as he could before heading back to the kitchen. Feliciano frowned at him upon entry, seeming to have not yet collected himself.

"You were mocking me?" he began, eyes glazing over, "that's so mean."

"We-" Kiku paused, having caught himself and felt his heart drop. He was not about to say 'well you deserved it'. He was not. That thought did NOT cross his mind.

"I know," he said instead, "I've been very snappy lately and have said many rude things. I'm not entirely sure what's causing it, but I don't mean what I said. I don't mean to mock you."

"Do you hate me?" the Italian asked in a quiet voice while fighting his tears.

"No," Kiku replied, with a smile.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. Of course not. You've done no wrong."

"And, you don't think I'm weak?"

"I-" He wanted to say 'I do not', just to appease his friend, but the words would not _let_ themselves leave his mouth. He instead settled for shaking his head.

"Oh, Vee~~!" The brunette perked up instantly, smiling and bouncing about in his seat. Ludwig wearily eyed Kiku, but seemed to settle for his answers, and looked back at the tea he had yet to take a sip from.

"Maybe it's time we get going," Ludwig suggested, standing, "I have things to do before my time to roam runs out and you could use some space, right?"

"Ah, yes, perhaps that would be for the best," the Raven-haired man remarked, nodding. He quickly ushered the two out before pressing his back on the door and sinking down into it. Their engagement had ended as quickly as it began and in the span of a quick forty-five minutes, Kiku had managed to nearly destroy one of his longest standing friendships. Pocky or not, this was getting out of hand. His thoughts, his behavior, his failed missions, the katana, and this feeling of swelling in his body was all too much! Something had to give or he-

Wait.

Swelling?

He looked at the clock, ticking away on a wall adjacent him. Time really must have flown this morning, as he was finding now that he was already seventeen minutes late on his medication. Kiku sighed and traversed back down the hall and into his bathroom. One pill, a gulp of water, and a burning of the chest later and the swelling was gone. Again, a peaceful emptiness took hold of his form. He eyed his reflection and frowned at himself, picking up his abandoned train of thought.

What was going on?

* * *

By the time Arthur awoke, it was one in the afternoon. He stared at the clock on his bedside table for a couple seconds in confusion as it slowly processed on him that he'd missed his morning. While normally, he'd rise swearing and rush to his usual daytime ritual to try to catch up, today he wasn't upset in the slightest. He even flopped back onto the bed, and unplugged his phone from the charger feeling his sleeping in was well deserved. Last night, he finished working on angels at eleven after a consistent stream of traffic into the hall. He then had to clean the horrible mess he and his patients had made, re-stacking books, restocking shelves, and replacing fallen chairs. It took him another hour and a half to get the entire hall done, and he'd skipped the garbage run in his grogginess. After working from eight one morning to twelve thirty the next morning, he left a note saying he was planning on being sick the next day, went home, changed, ate the quickest meal he could think of (pre-made scones and tea made from shamefully microwaved water), and fell face-first into bed at around two. He'd hardly ever been more tired.

So now, the man scrolled through his still unchecked phone to see what he'd missed. A text message from Vlad delivered around eight that morning reading: "Sorry about yesterday. Sleep tight ;)" a slew of emails that he didn't feel a need to check just then, an alert from the news channel he most preferred, talking about the likelihood of the clouds they lived on ever raining, three missed calls, one of which from an unknown number, 17 texts from his younger brother, each one containing a single letter, and another text.

From Kiku.

"Arthur-san, not to bother you, but I was wondering when you could come over to explain whatever it was that happened today? Also, are there any concerns with not taking pills on time or side-effects?"

...Crap.

Now fully awake, he slung himself from bed and raced to his bathroom. Once the toothbrush had toothpaste, he took it back to his room, brushing and staring into his closet trying to figure out what to wear. The man plucked out a white button up, beige sweater, light green bow tie, and white slacks before sprinting back to the bathroom to spit, attempting to beat a pile of foam keen on landing on his floor. He threw his clothes on at record pace, finished the rest of his morning ritual save a cup of tea, and bolted out the door. There was traffic in the road, flight patterns in the sky looked tight, and the streets were lined with people. Arthur weighed his options for a few seconds before expanding his wings and taking to the sky, completing the hole in a group of angels flying in a triangle. What was faster was better. He broke from the group and joined another in a "V" formation when he needed to take a left and before too much longer, he leaned his body forward and glided to the ground. At the same time he retracted his wings, he knocked three stiff times on the door before him and shifted his feet in wait.

The door creaked open.

"Oh, hello Arthur-san," a short, but powerful Japanese angel commented, smiling at him from half-way behind the door.

"Kiku! I'm so sorry!" Arthur was panting from the flight where he may or may not have broken several airspeed regulations "I, I've just had the hardest time at work, and, I got...I got up late this morning...and... oh!... I should've c-come sooner!"

"It's alright Arthur-san, I understand, but I am glad you're here," an awkward silence stood between them for a few seconds until Kiku stepped to the side and opened the door fully, "Maybe some tea?"

"Please. I had to skip mine this morning." Arthur was invited in, the kettle boiled, the tea was served, they sipped, they sat, they looked up at one another, and all at once the mood in the room changed. Kiku knew what the other party was there for, he just didn't know how to approach the topic. He didn't want to seem accusatory, and would need to start delicately. Yes, delicate.

"Arthur-san?"

"Yes, Kiku?"

"What are those pills you gave me?" Well...so much for that plan. Arthur set down his tea cup and clasped his hands in front of himself, smiling lightly.

"Straight to the point I see? Alright, let me explain. Kiku, you...your..," he paused, bringing his clasped hands up to rest underneath his chin and frowning. He'd forgotten in his rush to think through his speech and there was a lot he couldn't forget to say. A lot more he had to say with careful precision. "Well," he drummed his fingers on the backs of his hands, "as you know, your emblem of Pride does not appear unless you've taken the pills."

"Yes."

"Well, this is because they're blockers."

"Blockers?"

"Yes."

"I do not understand what you mean by that, Arthur-san."

"Yes, well, blockers are used to block a certain part of your genetic make-up. When an angel gets their wings temporarily revoked, as apposed to cutting them off, blockers are used to block the DNA strands that would give the person wings. When one needs to go to earth and blend in, blockers keep them from glowing in the sunlight, among-st other things."

"So, the blockers in the pills you gave me are keeping me from..." Kiku realized he didn't know what they were keeping him from. It didn't make sense that they blocked anything, because they actually added to him, and gave him an emblem he wouldn't otherwise have. "from what, exactly?"

"They keep a new development in your spirit from taking hold."

"What...new development?"

This was where things got tricky. Arthur paused for all of fifteen seconds to carefully select the words he would use next from his vast, English vocabulary. The somber silence in the room before the other man answered sent a chill through Kiku and a bout of anxiety to his stomach. Arthur cleared his throat.

"The developments of the sins you committed in your human life."

Neither party moved an inch as Arthur awaited a response and Kiku stared at him blankly. His human life? His sins? He knew very little about his human life, and "sin" was not a word an angel generally liked to hear coupled with "your". The man knew from looking at himself that he was Japanese, and assumed from the collection of languages that he knew for whatever reason that he was likely born in Japan, as Japanese came easiest to him, and that he had exposure to China and an English speaking nation or person at some point. As a human he assumed he was called Honda Kiku, as that was the name he carried into the clouds, but then again he couldn't be sure. Assuming that he was Honda Kiku though, knew some things for a fact based on the things he'd secretly read in the obituaries about himself. He had had a wife who he called Hana, two girls, one of which who'd passed at the early age of seven, and a son as his middle child. He was the owner of a game developing company and a naval general in his lifetime. He had not died in battle and received many honors. There was Yao's theory that Yao, Mei, and Li were blood related siblings, with Im Yong Soo and Kiku himself adopted into the family for whatever reason, but considering the differences in time of when they died, that didn't make sense. However, it was something to take into consideration, because Kiku, as an elder angel, was under the impression that he died nearly three thousand years ago, well before the invention of video games, his supposed career's center focus, so certain things just didn't add up. As a human being, he must have sinned, all humans do, but asking him to recall what sins he committed was too much. He didn't even know when he died, or how he'd felt about himself, or what other people'd thought of him. His human life was completely wiped from his mind when he entered the angelic realm, and would only return to him when he ascended to the heavens and reunited with his past-away family and friends.

Kiku suddenly remembered that he had to breathe, and took in a large breath before sighing it out slowly. He let his eyes refocus and grabbed his mind, forcing it back into the present conversation.

"Arthur-san, I'm still confused."

"More often than not, the personality an angel had as a human carries with them into our world," the other man began to explain, "and an angel's role is often decided by their personality or interests. So, an angel of Joy was likely very joyous as a human." Kiku nodded, trying to imagine himself as a human, perhaps leading some of his troops, with a proud, dignified smile on his face.

"However," Arthur continued, "humans sin far more than we angels do. Each of their sins is either a direct opposite of the ten commandments, or can fall into one of seven categories."

"The seven deadlies," Kiku contributed.

"Exactly. I believe that with you, your personality's most positive trait, your Pride, was also your most commonly referred to deadly sin."

"How is that possible?"

"Well, each and every characteristic can be twisted to seem good or bad. Sloth for example, it can be seen in a good light as relaxation, or a more positive thing like being selfless, can be taken too far and come with a side of self-deprecation. So, as an angel your human-self's Pride has been elevated into meaning an inherently good thing. What's happening now, is that the bad side, an excess of Pride, is starting to come out."

"So, the medication keep the bad side from showing itself, and makes it look like I only have...good Pride?"

"Yes. Exactly. It's a little tricky lately, because when I've seen this in the past, the good side and the bad side are not the same thing. So, I could mask someone's bad side permanently, leave their good side in tact, and send them on their merry way."

"Okay, so...what are you saying? What is the penalty of my bad side coming out? What does that mean?" The man furrowed his brows in confusion and scooted forwards to the edge of his seat, putting him a bit closer to Arthur despite the table between the two.

"Kiku, you must have messed up your dosages as of lately. What have you noticed about yourself while you're not on the medication?"

The Asian man in the room bit his lip at this question and looked wearily at Arthur. Arthur, an angel of Magic. One of the main angels grouped under the Angels of Angels. What if the man was only collecting information to use in a case against him? He trusted Arthur, they were friends, but he also knew Arthur had his integrity to keep up, and preferred not to lie. So where were his loyalties now? "I have been a little short of patience, and said some regrettable things to people," he said, choosing to omit his failed missions and sudden katana issue.

"What about how you've been feeling?"

"Feeling? F-Fine I suppose." Arthur sighed, ran his fingers over his eyebrows as if coaxing their hairs back into place, and braced himself for an overreaction.

"It means you're slowly becoming more demonic," he said.

Kiku's heart forgot to beat.

His eyes widened slowly as moments of his life passed before them, specifically the moment every angel had to experience at a young age, essentially to scare them into behaving- going to the stairs. He was led by Yao down a pitch black corridor with a heavy, steel door at the end. The hall was so dark he couldn't see an inch in front of his face, and would have been scared to walk blindly if it wasn't for his elder leading him. Yao opened the door, with a fair bit of struggle simply at the weight of the thing, and walked with Kiku out onto a platform. Just below the platform was the first step of about twelve stories worth leading into the Lower Level. It was dark, everything covered in a layer of grunge and soaked in the stench of decay. Blood spatters coated some of the top stairs from unwilling victims who'd been forced to go down. All around them, fire. Twisting red, white, and yellow flames emitting an unbearable heat cracked and popped threateningly. He'd heard a horrified cry of a man's voice coming from the depth below, where the stairs got so far from him that they faded into blackness. With another muffled scream of agony, this time from a woman, the flames climbed higher on the walls, screaming and cracking, sending sparks to soil his skin, encasing the dark grey room in soot and charcoal. Completely mortified, Kiku couldn't move. He hadn't even heard Yao call out to him, but vaguely felt himself being pulled backwards at some point, out of the room. Back then, his eyes were just as wide, his fear was just as high, the pit in his stomach just as deep. His hands that were hidden under the table began to tremble.

"Arthur-san..."

"No one's throwing you into the Lower Level just yet Kiku, as long as you stay on your pills this should blow over with time and you'll be fine." Almond-shaped eyes glanced down to their beholder's shaking hands. He balled them into fists. A rare determination was seen in his eyes, and he willingly ignored his forcefully polite nature.

"I'm no demon Arthur-san."

"I know, I agree."

"And there's nothing wrong with being a little proud of yourself. Of your accomplishments!"

"Yes, Kiku. No one is trying to accuse you of anything. You just have to think here; you've seen yourself off your pills. You've probably acted in ways you never thought you would, or had appalling thoughts. Really now, _think_ about how you've been feeling. At some point white magic turns black, joy becomes overjoy, empathy becomes pity. There is always a tipping point. Something in you just snaps, and pride becomes..." he drew off, waiting for the other to finish his sentence. Silence filled the room and Arthur let out a sigh. "How have you been feeling about other people Kiku?"

The other man did not answer, but absorbed the question. He wasn't feeling anything out of the ordinary. Alfred-san was still boisterous and fun loving...and...Kiku's thoughts lingered on that, his eyes drawing to slits. Boisterous, and fun loving like a puppy, but also idiotic like a puppy. Every time the larger man touched him, Kiku felt a heat of distaste and disgust course through his body. The man had no respect for others. Feliciano, on the other hand, was simply pathetic. He would burst into sobs at the drop of a pen, and the thought of him doing so nearly made bile build in Kiku's throat. How could someone be that pitiful?

"How have you been feeling about yourself?" Arthur asked, after having noticed his Asian companions eyes narrow and the corners of his lips edge slightly downwards.

"About myself," Kiku began, feeling a little rude for not answering the last question, "I've been...feeling...quite well." Yes he was feeling quite well about himself. He was feeling amazing about himself. What was there not to like? He was handsome, short he'd admit, but he had a presence about himself, known in the community, well respected, talented, perfectly polite even to the most undeserving of creatures, a master of his trades, poised, graced, and highly esteemed. He was nearly perfect.

Kiku almost gagged on this thought as a feeling swelled in his chest. _Nearly perfect?_ Had he really just thought that? He glanced down to make certain his emblem was still glowing even though he knew it wasn't time yet for another pill. The blockers seemed to keep him from saying just any old thing, but his thoughts were clearly corrupted.

"Kiku?"

"Yes?"

"I will ask again. What does pride become when it crosses the line?"

Long, black eyelashes swept in several blinks as the Asian thought. Everyone else seemed utterly repulsive to him, while he himself was a model to live by. He snapped at others for not thinking like him and genuinely felt sick or pained to be around their ignorance. He could conceal his words all he wanted to, but there was always the thought pushing in the back of his mind, insisting he was right. That he was always right. That no one had the right to challenge him or act out against him because he was a Honda man. And he was right. And he was to be respected. No one deserved his respect. It had to be earned at these pathetic angels were doing a pathetic job at that. He. Was. Right.

"Pride..." the black haired man began, a little pain in his voice at what he was about to call himself, "Pride becomes superiority."

"Superiority?"

"..."

"You think you're superior to others?"

 _I am._ The thought lingered on Kiku's tongue as his face burned. All he could manage in response was a slight nod.

"So, you you understand now why you must stay on your medication?"

"Yes, Arthur-san, I do." His voice shook.

"I promise it won't be forever, Kiku," the man reached a hand across the table and placed it on top of the others. Kiku quickly drew away. "It's just until this wares off. I'll keep checking in with you every so often, but, I'm telling you everything will be fine."

Kiku blinked several rapid times, "Alright, that sounds like a nice plan. Thank you." A hard lump built in his throat.

"Any questions for me, chap?" Arthur asked with a pleasant smile. Kiku shook his head, and continued blinking as his vision grew slightly blurry.

It has been previously discussed how Kiku Honda is a very good actor by nature. The majority of the time, the man is not trying to look composed, he simply comes across that way. So, as Arthur studied his friend, he noticed a light pink push to the surface of his skin in some form of embarrassment, and quickly recede. Kiku made eye contact with him, and nodded, confirming everything the two had just spoken about. It said he understood, and his confusion was replaced in full with his usual air of elegance. Arthur was a fair bit surprised the other was taking this so well, usually this conversation ended in tears, a fight, screaming, or some other such hysterics. His smile widened as he finished off the last sip of his tea and stood from the table.

"Well then, Honda, I will keep in touch. Call me if you need anything! Feel free to come by The Hall when you need another bottle." and with just that, the man took his leave, slipping from the room and out the door.

Kiku heard the door close with an echoing click. Not a muscle in his body dared move him from his spot, and he stared straight forward, but didn't see anything. His body felt empty. _Me. Honda Kiku. A...a demon._ His chest began to tense, awakening him to the fact that he was holding his breath. _A demon with a **superiority complex.** Me._ His entire body grew hot as a deep crimson blush overtook his face. The man was trembling. _Oh God. Oh Lord._ He inhaled a sharp breath and set it out shakily as tears began to well in his eyes. _No. This can't be happening._ Never before had he ever been so...shamed. And so scared. _No, no, no, nonono. It can't be._ A random drop of water slipped from his eyelash and onto his hand; Kiku had to try to look at his hand and instead see an impossible to discern, blurry, pale blob to understand he was crying. _I've always been a man deserving of my title._ His eyes squeezed shut. _I've followed every rule. I've done everything right! And now my thoughts are just corrupted by...by what exactly? Hatred?_ He bit his lip as the first sob took his body. He lowered his head to the table. _How can I dare call myself an angel? Look what I've done! To my patients on earth...more like my victims. To my friends. Look what I've become!_ He felt completely stripped, as if he was bare and naked, awkwardly shapeless stature and uneven skin-tone on display for all the realm to see. The man felt all his greatest fears come to light at once. He was a disgrace, a cowardly disgrace to all of his kind. How dare he sit in that kitchen and cry like some prepubescent child? How could he turn his back on his morals and doom himself to a flaming eternity? Every thought he'd had off of his medication care to him, reverberating off his skull.

 _"Maybe everyone around me will stop acting like idiots"_

 _"This man has absolutely no grasp of human decency."_

 _"I am a Honda."_

 _When had I become so...disgusting? It's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time before Aldarik or Everet or Yao or God finds out. Maybe Arthur's gone right now to tell them all. I'm already too far gone._ His sobs grew heavier, further displeasing himself. _I'm doomed. I'm going straight to Hell and what better do I deserve?!_ Without a moment to pause, to think, to rationalize, Kiku jumped up from the table and nearly fell into his side counter. He grabbed a steak knife from his knife display and it made it's way through his palm. The man let out a cry and fell to his knees, clutching his wrist a the siring pain. He watched the blood ooze out, dripping through the cracks in his flexed fingers and onto the hardwood.

 _"You see you pathetic, little shit?"_ a voice not different from his but not quiet like his own cooed in his head, _"This is what you get."_

* * *

 **THIS STORY IS BEING MOVED - not canceled, just moved.**

I have issues with the start of this focusing on Peter, Jane, and Lillie. Those three basically have nothing at all to do with the story, and while I semi-like what I wrote, I just don't want to start the story with them. So, instead, I've created an adapted version of this tale called **Angels VS Demons (you can easily find this on my profile)**. The first 3 chapters are basically this with some adjustments so it makes sense without the micronations, so you don't have to read them. I will likely delete this story all together in a couple weeks. **You all can just hop in at chapter 4 of Angels VS Demons.**

My birthday was November 6th, my last update, and I got not a single review! So, if you want to make me happy, **GO TO ANGELS VS DEMONS, and review like crazy** for the excitement of the upcoming chapter! **Don't forget to follow that story too** as I won't be updating this one anymore. **Let me know in the reviews if you guys think this is a good idea.** I think my mind is kind of made up, but I'd like your opinions.

* * *

"What an odd place to end the chapter, Sunny! Kiku is acting crazy! He would never do that!" I know reader, I know. Bear with me.

The whole resolution to this chapter was unplanned. My fingers were just typing and then next thing I knew Kiku was nearing sepuku (lol spelling?). I hope his emotions came through properly. I don't think Kiku is the type to just burst into tears, or just stab himself, but he is kind of under the influence right now, and Japan is the kind of character, I think, that has a lot of self confidence and knows certain things to be true about his character. When you take those things from him, if he can't get them back, I'd imagine he'd feel ashamed. Shame is like basically the worst thing to have in Japanese history because it leads to you killing yourself without so much as batting an eyelash 99% of the time, but since Kiku here is an angel I don't think he'd jump to suicide, and if he did this would be a very short story. So there. Self harm.

I actually have a lot of feelings on the way Japan and 2p!Japan act, but I'd like to hear you guys' opinions for writing purposes. **In the reviews, please tell me your Japan/2Ppan headcanons!**

I was really unsure of if I wanted to get to the plot in this chapter. Well, the like, have Arthur come over part of the plot. I could've pushed it back another chapter, but, I decided to just cut down the Kiku-acts-strange portion and throw it in. I hope it doesn't feel too fast. There's still plenty more drama to come! Goodbye lovelies, thank you for reading :)


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